Glare screen



Aug l, 1933- w. c. CARR, .JR 11,920,185

GLARE SCREEN Filed Oct. 2, 1951 l." @horney Patented Aug. 1, 1933 PATENT OFFICE UNITED STATES Carr, Guar'dian, Carr, Sr.

assignor to William C.

Application October 2, 1931. Serial No. 566,507 1 Claim.- (Cl. 296-97) My inventionrelates to glare-screens of the type used on automobiles, and which areeither attached to the wind-shield of a car, or else are mounted on some other part of the car, such as 5 the steering post, wind-shield frame, etc.

'I'he object of my invention is to provide a glare-screen which may be cheaply manufactured, which will be light, efficient, free from rattling, easily attached; and which may be sold for a small price.

A further object lof my invention is to provide a glare-screen which may be adjusted as to its position, so that it may protect the eyes of the driver from the glare of oncoming head-lights under various conditions; whether on the country road, or on the city streets.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive means of securing the glare-screen in the desired position after adjustment.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of this specication:

Figure I shows my glare-screen in elevation;

Figure Il shows the screen in vertical section;

Figure III is a detail showing the joint between the screen and the pivot;

Figures IV and V show details of the screen;

Figures VI and VII', show details of the pivot.

In Figure I the numeral 1 shows the body of the glare-screen, which may be made of celluloid, or other suitable transparentor translucent material. Celluloid, when made in thin sheets, is apt to bend or curve. This is not objectionable in itself, and in some cases I make my glarescreen of only one thickness. But Where greater durability and a more nished appearance is desired, I cement together ytwo or more thicknesses of celluloid, and in such a way as to correct its natural curvature. This ply construction is shown in Figure III.

At its upperend my glare-screen is pivoted at 2. The pivot may be of a type suitable for i cementing to the wind-shield; or it may be made in the form of a vacuum cup 3, with an extending neck 4, and with a head 5, somewhat larger in diameter than the neck. The pivot may terminate in a projecting knob or handle, which may be of any suitable shape. This type of vacuum cup pivot is easily attached to and detached from the glass of a wind-shield; and it will remain in position for a long time.

My glare-screen is perforated at 7, the hole being large-enough to be worked over the head 5,

of the pivot; but still being smaller in diameter than the neck 4 vof the pivot. This being so,

either the face of the neck of the pivot must give to the smaller aperture in the screen, or the edges around the aperture in the screen must give to the neck of the pivot. In other words, I make an elastic joint between the screen and the pivot, having enough elasticity to allow the movement of the screen when force is applied, but which will remain ilrm when force is not applied. The degree of elasticity and firmness required to produce the braking power desired may be imparted by either the pivot or by the screen; or partly by one, and partly by the other. If the necessary relief is not provided between the two parts of the joint, the said joint would be very soon destroyed by either the cutting of the pivot, or by the breaking of the material around the aperture in the screen.

I prevent the cutting of the neck of the pivot, and at the same time increase the grip of the screen on the neck, by cutting the inner edge of the aperture with projections 8 so formed that when the screen is mounted on the rubber pivot the projecting parts will bear with an elastic pressure upon the neck of the pivot, forming an eiective brake against the turning of the screen about the pivot. The arrangement and the shape of the projections Within the aperture in the top of the screen may be varied, as shown in Figures IV and V; the desirable features of these projecting parts being that they shall be suiiiciently elastic to bend, and that they shall slip easily over the head 5, of the pivot. The head of the pivot may be made separately from the neck and base. The projections and the opening in the screen can then be made smaller. After the screen is put in place on the neck of the pivot, the head of the pivot is secured in place by cement or other suitable means. I have shown the projections 8, within the aperture in the head of the glare-screen in more than one different shape. It Will be understood that these projections may be made in any shape, provided that they retain sufcient strength and stiffness to bear with some pressure upon the neck of the pivot. By this I do not mean that these projections shall bend side-Ways at an abrupt angle to the plane of the screen; but only that they shall have suicient elasticity to bend to one side, and still bear upon the neck of the pivot, without acting with a cutting effect upon the said pivot.

The form of elastic joint described above is one having the pivot with a non yielding surface, and an aperture in the screen with yielding edges. As I change from this to the elastic pivot and the aperture having less elastic edges, I would use a rubber pivot, and still provide yielding edges to the aperture in the screen. But we may continue to change the ratio between the elasticity of the surface of the pivot and that of the edges of the aperture until we have edges with practically no elasticity, and the necessary elasticity for the joint furnished almost entirely onthe surface of the pivot. In a joint of this type I make the pivot of rubber, and cast its surface in an irregular shape, rather than in the shape of a true cylinder, so that the irregularities or projections on the periphery of the pivot shall give elastically to the pressure of the edges of the aperture in the screen. I accomplish this by providing around the face of the pivot one or more projecting surfaces 9, of the elastic material (see Figures VI and VII). These projecting surfaces 9, yield elastieally before the pressure exerted by the edges in the aperture in the screen when the latter is rotated around the pivot. In this way, the projecting surfaces on the face of the pivot exert a strong braking effect against the rotation of the scrceen. The reason for my using the different ratios between the elasticities of the two parts is that I may suit my construction to the materials most easily obtained on the market. In some cases, the screen material obtainable may be easily punched. In others it may not. The material used for the pivot, and most readily obtained, may be an elastic material, such as rubber, or it may be of Wood or other material.

As I have said above, in the lighter forms of my glare-screen, I use one thickness of Celluloid or other glare-screening material. When this is the case, the projections 8 are of course made in the aperture of this one thickness. When I make my screen of two-ply material, I usually put the projections only in one sheet, though they may be put in the second sheet also. When I make my screen of three-ply material I usually form the projections in the aperture in the middle ply. This protects them somewhat when not in use and it also gives them the backing of the outer plies, as will be seen in Figure III. Here again the projections may be used in more than one ply. In Figure III, I have shown the several plies in the compound screen material as having considerable thickness. This I have done in order that the arrangement of the projections within the aperture may be more readily-distinguished. In reality, the material of which the screen is built up is thin. Another reason for using two-ply or three-ply material is .that I may not be able to procure single sheets of the required depth of color or glare resisting properties. When this is the case I can obtain the desired depth by simply increasing the thickness. It is well known that certain colors relieve the strain of glare on the eye; some more and some less. Shades of yellow bordering on the browns give relief from glare with the least effect apparently on the nerves.

In practice, I press the vacuum cup on to the Y windshield glass, to which it will adhere in the well known way. The screen 1 may then be rotated on this pivot to any angle; and it will be found that the projections within the aperture in the head of the screen will hold the screen at the angle to which it has been turned.

With the heavier forms of screen, and when the road being travelled is very rough and vibration is great, there is some risk of displacement of the screen from the angle to which it has been adjusted. Though at such times one is not so likely to be troubled with glare as one is on the better roads, we have sometimes to deal with driving problems which arise from a low sun in the direct line of vision. To make the heavier screens doubly secure, I make a perforation in the lower ends of the screen, and through this perforation I insert the head of a small vacuum cup, 10. When the screen has been placed in position, pressure upon this small vacuum cup, sufficient to make it adhere to the wind-shield lglass, will lock the screen in position.

I 'cut the foot of my glare-screen aslant, as shown in Figure I, so that the driver may have a good View of the road immediately in front ol him, and of the shoulder on his right, while the .body of the screen protects his eyes from the glare of approaching lights or other bright illumination.

While I have shown my glare-screen as pivoted on a stem attached to a vacuum cup, it will be understood that the same screen can be pivoted on a stern which is attached to the wind-shield, or other structural part, in any other suitable way. But I prefer the vacuum cup, and generally use it in practice, because of its low cost, and because of the ease with which it may be installed.

I claim:

A glare screen comprising a pivot of soft rubber having a neck of a substantial diameter; means'for securing the pivot on a windshield; a screen of elastic light-transmitting material of three-ply construction pivotally mounted on the pivot, the apertures in the two outside plies being approximately the same in diameter as the diameter of the pivot, and the aperture in the middle ply having an irregular outline and having a clear diameter less than the diameter of the pivot, so that when the three plies are cemented together the screen material about the apertures in the two outside plies reinforces the elastic screen material projecting into the aperture in the middle ply, which projecting screen material 130 acts as a spring bearing upon the neck of the pivot, to prevent accidental rotation of the screen about the pivot.

WILLIAM C. CARR, JR. 

